Database Migration Service
One of the many areas where AWS shines is in managed database services. For example, with AWS Relational Database Services (RDS), customers can rely on AWS to do the hard work of managing underlying servers for the hosting of massive customer databases. Is it any surprise that AWS also offers a fully managed database migration and replication service? The AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) helps you move databases to the AWS Cloud while ensuring security and reliability. Figure 4-3 shows the AWS DMS.
Figure 4-3 AWS Database Migration Service
In order to be appropriate for many different migrations, AWS DMS supports migration between more than 20 database and analytics engines. Here are just some examples:
Oracle to Aurora MySQL-Compatible Edition
MySQL to RDS for MySQL
Microsoft SQL Server to Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition
MongoDB to DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility)
Oracle to Redshift and Simple Storage Service (S3)
Notice from these sample options that DMS gives customers the ability to perform both homogenous and heterogeneous migrations. This means you can move your database to the same type of database technology in the cloud, or you can use DMS to move the database and transform it into a new database technology. This permits AWS customers to take advantage of cloud benefits as well as the benefits of new database technologies.
Snowball
What if you have petabytes of miscellaneous data that you want to migrate to the AWS Cloud without having to worry about saturating your Internet connection and worrying about reliability during the transfer? Another area of strength for AWS is providing various types and reliability levels of cloud-based data storage. The answer for moving large amounts of data to the cloud is the AWS Snowball family, which features shipping container options in a variety of form factors for your data. Figure 4-4 shows an example of an AWS Snowball device.
Figure 4-4 AWS Snowball
Using AWS Snowball typically consists of the following steps:
Step 1. Use the AWS Snow Family console to select a preferred type of Snowball device.
Step 2. Create a job with an S3 bucket.
Step 3. Select the Simple Notification Service (SNS) for tracking. AWS then prepares and ships the device to you, and you receive it in approximately 4-6 days.
Step 4. Once the device arrives, power it up and use AWS OpsHub to unlock it.
Step 5. Connect the device to your LAN.
Step 6. Use AWS OpsHub to manage the device, transfer data, or launch EC2 instances.
Step 7. Shut down and return the device to AWS. When the device arrives at the AWS Region, any data stored in your on-board buckets is moved to your S3 bucket and verified. All data is then securely erased from the device, and the device is sanitized of any customer information.